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‘Expectation Of Nigerians Is That Things Should Be Done Rightly And Quickly’

By LAWRENCE  NJOKU
30 May 2015   |   1:54 am
Former Military Administrator of Imo State, Navy Commodore Anthony Oguguo (rtd) spoke to LAWRENCE  NJOKU on the expectation of Nigerians from Buhari’s government. Excerpts…
Oguguo

Oguguo

EXPECTATIONS are really high, heightened more by the fact of the general distress occasioned by the various lacks; fuel, diesel, power supply among others. The power supply level has gone so low and people are expecting that new thing should happen with the handover of government.

You have generators, you can no longer operate it because of lack of fuel, you can not charge your phone. Travelling has become so difficult for everybody. If you want to go by road you are worried about insecurity, you want to go by air you are not sure whether there is aviation fuel. So all these happened in less than one or two weeks to the handover date raised the expectation and anxiety of Nigerians of what to expect from the new government.

I don’t know how Buhari’s government is gearing up to perform the magic, but the expectation from everybody is that there should be some positive change for the better. I know it will be a tough job.

Probe
I am a Nigerian and I know that we have had various probes before now. If probe is going to make life better for Nigerians, why not probe? The fact that the new president has said so will not be enough for me to comment further than this, because I don’t know the details of his arrangement.

What I know is that many Nigerians today even the people who did not vote for Buhari are yearning for change; change for the better. If probe will bring about that kind of change, let there be probe because Nigerians are having too much of the pains. Salaries are not paid. I don’t want to talk about myself who should ordinarily rely on my pensions; there are so many people like me. Many have paid their dues and many are still paying their dues; there are many things that they expect from the government when they retire from service. Expectation of many Nigerians is that things should be done rightly and quickly too.

Security
Internal security has become so interwoven, but there is hardly anyone that you can pull now that will not pull the other. You cannot say that I am going to face internal security and leave the other areas of security. You cannot stop industries from functioning, because you want to effect a change from one aspect, all of it is interdependent.

But whatever you want to do, there is need to ensure that life continues –security of lives and property. There must be life before education; somebody who is not alive who has not eaten food should not be expected to go to school. But all of them are important.

Talk about corruption, I wish there was a way that the EFCC can be so strengthened to be able to do certain things and achieve certain results without being impeded by processes of law. I am not saying that you should not follow processes but they should be altered in a way that results are achieved. The law should be so tailored as to allow the attainment of justice in the quickest possible time.

I wish we will be able to find individuals who are tough and thorough that should be able to achieve results. If we are having

Problem of power supply, why can’t we stop all that we are doing in that direction to ensure that our four refineries are working. I don’t like some of these temporary measures and I thought the issue of subsidy supposed to be a temporary measure, but it has become a permanent one, because some people are benefitting from it.

Why don’t we prepare to suffer once and for all and get the refineries working? If the three years of war, Biafra did not import petroleum, why would Nigeria that is not at war not be able to get it right and have its own refinery? What is illegal refinery if it is giving us oil– if we are getting oil from illegal refining, why can’t we get it from legal refining? It is difficult to answer these questions especially taking it from our immediate pressures. People are owed salaries and yet we are commissioning projects, why?

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